90-year-old Avon man pleads guilty to killing his wife

By
Kaylee Remington, The Morning Journal

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

ELYRIA — A 90-year-old Avon man pleaded guilty June 17 for killing his wife, Virginia Shaw.
Under a plea agreement, Robert Shaw pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter instead of the charges he was originally indicted on, which were aggravated murder, felonious assault and two counts of murder. Shaw will be officially sentenced to four years in prison at a later date after his pre-sentence report is in. Shaw was indicted in February 2009.
Shaw’s attorney, Kenneth Lieux, did not return a call seeking comment.
Shaw called a 911 operator at 7:20 a.m. on Nov. 12, 2008, and said that he had just killed his wife. When police got to Shaw’s residence on Shakespeare Lane in Avon, he surrendered to police and was taken to a hospital for weeks of evaluation and observation.
On the 911 recording, Shaw said he killed his wife “to put her out of her misery.” When the operator asked how he killed her, he said, “I suffocated her.
“She had been in and out of the hospital and came home a couple of months ago, and ... uh ... I can’t talk ...”
Former Lorain County Coroner Dr. Paul Matus performed an autopsy on 85-year-old Virginia Shaw and said she appeared to die by asphyxiation.
Lieux had filed a motion last year for an independent psychiatric evaluation for competency and sanity for Shaw.
Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Mark Betleski had ruled that Shaw was competent to stand trial.